Copy Cat's Shadow
by Copy-Nin's Daughter
Summary: Kakashi didn't want a genin team. He definitely didn't want to have an apprentice. But he unfortunately can't always get his way. Shikamaru agrees that maybe this isn't the greatest idea ever. AU story with Shikamaru graduating early as the genius he really is.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: It's probably not the greatest idea for me to be writing two stories at once, but this other idea won't stop bugging me. Plus, I figured maybe I should have a story that's not M rated too. For anyone reading both, I'll take turns updating each story, though this one will be far longer than my other one.**

 **I decided to really play with an AU idea. I find it kinda funny that all the clans had their heirs at the same time, save Itachi, and with him becoming a missing nin then you've got Sasuke anyways in that age group. So, I'm gonna make it a little less convenient. In this story, Shikamaru will be two years younger than all the other main characters. But that doesn't mean he graduates later...**

 **Please forgive typos. I put this together on my phone and reread it, but Japanese names etc. don't agree with autocorrect.**

 **This story was inspired by boomvroomshroom's Chiaroscuro. If you've never read that then by all means, do! It's awesome.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I'm just borrowing the characters for fun.**

The third hokage sighed and rubbed at his temples as Kakashi glared at him with the one eye. He _knew_ this was how the jounin would react. _Ugh_. He really didn't need this headache right now.

"Hear me out, Kakashi," the old hokage said.

Hiruzen knew that the Copy-nin had been ready to argue, and had decided to quickly override him. Where he could just _order_ Kakashi to do it, he'd rather have the man do it willingly.

Beneath the mask, he could hear teeth click together and realized that Kakashi _had_ been opening his mouth to speak. He sighed again.

"Shikaku came to me and specifically asked you to be his son's jounin instructor." He quickly held up his hand as Kakashi started to speak again. "Shikamaru is a genius, plain and simple. He's only been in the academy for a year and passed the test with flying colors. I had his sensei give him an I.Q. test and its off the chart, over 200. I could keep him in the academy, but that would be wasting his potential. And as for why Shikaku picked you, I think that would be obvious."

Again, Kakashi tried to speak and again Hiruzen cut him off.

"I know you don't think you'd do well teaching. I am well aware that you didn't pass your first team last week. I know you don't want to be a teacher after leaving ANBU. But you would be the best person to actually _teach_ the boy anything. Shikamaru has shown a reluctance to doing anything without proper motivation, and where a lot of people are seeing it as laziness, his academy sensei says he's pretty sore it's because nothing challenges him to the point of motivating him. I'm not asking you to do exactly what Minato did for you."

Kakashi stiffened.

"But after what happened with Itachi, Shikaku has good reason to be worried about his son's future."

Hiruzen finally stopped speaking, and Kakashi slumped a little.

"You must know me pretty well. You just totally took apart all of my arguments."

Hiruzen gave a small smile.

"Won't Inoichi and Choza be upset that Shikamaru won't be on the academy to graduate with their kids? I had heard that they wanted another Ino-Shika-Cho combination."

Hiruzen leaned back in his chair.

"Shikaku brought that up, and the other two are understanding of it. Even though Ino and Choiji are two years older than Shikamaru, he is already way beyond their level. Perhaps they can work together in the future sometime. But for now, it looks like that particular formation will just have to wait another generation."

Kakashi sighed. "Am I right in assuming that Shikamaru took his test last week with the other graduates?"

Hiruzen nodded. "He's stayed at the academy for now, as no one was sure what to do with another genius. Only a few of the academy sensei know he passed the test and only Iruka-sensei and Shikaku know about his I.Q. results. I didn't want him drawing any unwanted attention."

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed, and Hiruzen knew he'd realized he'd been referring to Danzo.

"As far as his peers know, he didn't take the test and therefore didn't pass it. Shikaku wanted it kept quiet until we figured out what exactly we were going to do."

Kakashi nodded.

"I guess I can take him on as an apprentice." Kakashi suddenly perked up. "Does this mean I don't have to take on a full genin team then?"

Hiruzen shook his head in exasperation. "It depends on how well this goes. You do know how Minato eventually added Rin and Obito to your group. I don't know if that's what will happen here, but for now, it'll just be the two of you."

Kakashi nodded. "Hai, Hokage."

Hiruzen smiled as Kakashi left via the window. He would never quite understand the jounin's distaste for doors.

He rubbed at his temples again and then stared balefully at the piles of paperwork. At least he had _one_ priority figured out. Now for all this other junk.

Sometimes being Hokage sucked.

 **The line doesn't work on my phone...**

Kakashi stood in front of the Memorial, his sharingan uncovered.

"Well. Obito, Rin, Sensei...I just got conned into taking on an apprentice. Yeah. I know. Me? A teacher? I knew it was a bad idea. That's why I used the bell test last week on that other genin group. I figured there would be less of a chance for them to pass, and I'd be off scott free for a year. But nope. Lord Third just had to pop up with another genius."

Kakashi stuffed his hands into his pockets, and looked up at the blue sky.

"I'm supposed to head over to the academy and pick him up this afternoon. And I can't be late this time because he doesn't know I'm coming, and he'd leave if I didn't show up."

Kakashi sighed.

"I'm not sure what to think of this. You know how my life went. Not the greatest, but it was because of you guys that I turned out as good as I did. Itachi...I told you about him, Obito. He killed your clan-everyone but your brother. He was a genius. Everyone said he snapped. Maybe if I'd been there for him he wouldn't have."

He looked back at the Memorial Stone, his Sharingan tracing over Obito's name.

"I think that's what has Shikaku so worried. He doesn't want his son to snap eventually. Like I almost did. Like Itachi did."

The weight of responsibility settled on Kakashi's shoulders.

"I don't know how you did it, sensei. I could really use some advice."

Sighing, Kakashi pulled his forehead protector back over his left eye. Judging by the sun, he had a few minutes to be over at the academy.

 _Well._

 _Here goes nothing._

Without a backwards glance, the twenty-two year old disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

 **...**

Shikamaru stopped in surprise as Iruka-sensei put a hand on his shoulder.

"Shikamaru. I've been asked to keep you here for a little bit."

The Nara blinked up at him, and shrugged.

"Okay," the seven-year old said. He sauntered back to his desk, and slid into the chair. He could feel Iruka's stare on his back.

"Don't you even want to know why?" Iruka finally spluttered.

Shikamaru propped himself up on his elbow, and closed his eyes.

"Well, it's obviously something to do with my test last week. Why else would you have come over here from your other class? You're the only teacher here who knows I took the IQ test and one of the only ones who know about me passing the graduation test. I'm concluding that after a week, someone is coming to talk to me about what I'll be doing now."

He didn't have to look to know Iruka was dumbfounded.

Shikamaru sighed.

 _How troublesome._

He hadn't planned on taking the test last week. It had really been a spur of the moment decision. But it had just been one of those days where he felt like he was surrounded by idiots and really just wanted to be out of there. It wasn't like he had any friends here. No one seemed to like him and he reciprocated the feeling.

Upon having him actually pass the test, Iruka had dragged him into another room and then questioned him on how on earth he had done that. Granted, Shikamaru had been too bored to try to get good grades in the last year, so he supposed Iruka's disbelief was founded.

And then he'd made him take the IQ test. Shikamaru had been surprised, but then actually happy to have a bit of a challenge. When he'd been told that his IQ was off the charts though, that had surprised him.

 _Well._

At least he knew that he wasn't _really_ surrounded by idiots. He was just that much smarter than everyone else.

In truth, he didn't like the academy, and when he realized that he made an uneven number of genin graduates, he was worried about where he would go. He was still worried. He didn't want to stay here, but it wasn't very common for someone to take on an apprentice. And who wanted a seven year old genius on a team with two twelve year olds? That was a recipe for disaster.

Shikamaru sighed. Sometimes he really wished he had been born earlier. He spent time with Chouji and Ino, as their clans were such good friends. But he had never really felt like they connected well because of the age difference. Kami...Ino thought he was _adorable._

It wasn't Shikamaru's fault he was short for his age.

There was a knock at the door, and Shikamaru turned in his chair. Iruka was already headed over to open it. When he did, Shikamaru eyed the newcomer with interest.

Gravity defying silver hair. Check.

Weird mask over bottom half of face. Check.

Forehead protector tilted over left eye. Check.

Slouch. Check.

Porn sticking out of pocket. Check.

Shikamaru immediately decided he didn't like the looks of this guy.

"Hatake-san," Iruka stuttered. "I didn't expect you to be...on time?"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

Reputation for being late. Check.

Kakashi Hatake. Shikamaru knew about this man. After all, he was the only person in Konohagakure who bore that last name now. He'd never met him before, but his father had mentioned him a few times in passing. Plus, they'd all been taught the history of the village in their classes (he actually liked that subject here) and he knew about the legendary White Fang. Not a lot of people knew the White Fang was a Hatake. But his father had told him when Shikamaru had asked who he really was.

And this was his son?

Shikamaru was not impressed.

And then suddenly, as Kakashi strode forward and curved his visible eye into a crescent, and Shikamaru knew exactly why he was here.

"Shikamaru Nara? My name is Kakashi Hatake. I'm your jounin sensei. And my first impression of you? You're boring."

Shikamaru face-palmed.

 **Whew! This is longer than I though it would be.**

 **Shikamaru is 7**

 **Kakashi is 22**

 **Rest of the Rookie Nine are 9**

 **I made Kakashi just a tad younger than he would have been in canon. I do have a good if a tiny bit insignificant reason for that later.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think! I would love to know. =]**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks to everyone for reviewing, favoriting, following etc. I would love to answer reviews individually, but I'm afraid I'd start something that someday I wouldn't be able to keep up with. But that doesn't mean you can't still review… :-)**

 **For those of you who would like to read a Shikamaru and Itachi friendship story, and are okay with certain M rated material, then check out my Cracked But Not Broken story. So far it's not terribly popular, but I'd like to get more feedback for it.**

 **I really should be working on my finals, studying and such, but eh…fanfiction has won out.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I'm just borrowing the characters for fun.**

Shikaku was sitting on the steps of his front porch, watching the sunset, when his son and his new sensei showed up. Shikaku took in his son's disheveled appearance and annoyed look, and he nearly chuckled. He had known ahead of time, of course, that the Hokage had convinced Hatake to train his son, and he had decided not to warn Shikamaru just so that he could see his reaction.

Sometimes he wondered if he was a terrible father…

Hiding his smile at the totally exhausted air around his son, Shikaku rose and greeted them.

"Hatake-san, Shikamaru. How was the first day of training?"

Shikamaru glared up at him with a look that clearly spelled "traitor." Shikaku fought the urge to rub the back of his head in embarrassment.

Kakashi gave an eye smile. "Your son is somewhat unmotivated, but I think I can fix that. We had fun getting to know each other though," he said, patting Shikamaru's head. The boy swatted the offending hand away and glared at his new sensei.

"Maa, so mean."

Shikaku chuckled.

"Shikamaru, if you would like to go clean up before your mother sees the state your in…"

Shikamaru looked down at his muddied clothes and a look of panic crossed his features.

"Hai," he said, and as an afterthought, he bowed towards Kakashi, and then took off at a run.

Shikaku chuckled again. "The only thing that seems to ever motivate him-fear of his mother."

Kakashi "hmm-ed" and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Turning serious, Shikaku looked Kakashi in the eye.

"I'm sure you know, Hatake-san, that I requested you personally as my son's sensei."

Kakashi, seeming to sense the new air of seriousness, stood up a little straighter.

"I have known for some time that my son is smarter than most. It came as a bit of a shock though just how smart he was. I know my wife and I have provided him with a loving environment, and even as clan heir, I would never pressure him into doing things that he didn't want to do."

They both knew that he was referring to Itachi, and to an extent, Kakashi himself.

"I chose you, mainly because I wanted you to challenge my son, but also to challenge yourself."

Kakashi stood even straighter at that comment, and a puzzled look crossed his features.

"That being said, Shikamaru is only seven. I know he is technically a legal adult now that he's earned the title shinobi, but I can't see him that way yet. I am entrusting you with my child, Kakashi." His abandonment of any honorific surprised them both.

"Nara-san," Kakashi started, but Shikaku held up his hand.

"I am trusting you, Kakashi. Don't screw this up."

 **...**

Shikamaru's new teacher was insane.

 _"Let's get to know each other a bit," Kakashi said._

 _Shikamru raised an eyebrow. "You first," he said, crossing his arms._

 _Kakashi glared at him with his visible eye, and then it curled into an ark. Shikamaru wondered just how fake the expression was. It was really hard to tell through the ridiculous mask._

 _"My name is Kakashi Hatake. I'm a jounin, and I'm twenty-two years old. My likes and dislikes, as well as my dream, are none of your business._

 _Shikamaru stared at him. "You didn't tell me anything that I couldn't have figured out on my own!"_

 _Kakashi crossed his arms. "So?"_

 _"Fine," Shikamaru huffed. "My name is Shikamaru Nara. I'm a genin, and I'm seven years old. My likes and dislikes, as well as my dream, are none of your business."_

 _Kakashi stared at him._

The moment of triumph he had felt at throwing the same stupid spiel right back at the silver-haired man was soon gone.

 _"Usually, I would put a genin team through a test about teamwork, but you can't really do that because you don't have any team mates. So, instead, we're going to spar."_

 _"Um," Shikamaru started. "Isn't that a bit unfair?" He was inwardly panicking._

 _"Oh, don't worry, I won't use anything but taijutsu."_

 _"That's not it…"Shikamaru said, his face reddening in embarrassment._

 _Kakashi waited._

 _"Um, well, that is…I don't know a lot of the basic taijutsu."_

 _"Huh?" Kakashi was staring at him._

 _"Well, you know…I took that test last week on the spur of the moment. And they don't exactly test you on your taijutsu. It's a written exam. And then those three chakra exercises. Which I was only able to do from watching the older students do it…I actually didn't learn a lot of that…"_

 _"Kami help me…"Kakashi muttered. "Well then. We'll forgo actual taijutsu for right now. You're only objective is to take this bell," he held up a small bell for Shikamaru to see, "from me by six o' clock. I don't care what you do. Just show me what you_ can _do."_

What had followed was a nightmare. The only thing in Shikamaru's favor was his size, which meant he had less chakra, which in turn made it really easy to mask his chakra and hide.

But he could only hide so long.

Kakashi had dumped him in the lake. And he'd also knocked him out of a tree. And he'd tripped him, and then watched while he struggled to get out of deep mud on the edge of said lake. And then he'd tossed him in the lake again.

Shikamaru hadn't been able to get the bell.

Cursing his luck at getting this particular jounin sensei, Shikamaru was finally able to peel the last piece of muddy clothing off. Just getting the sodden clothes off had been a chore.

"How troublesome," he muttered.

 _"Meet me at the bridge, tomorrow morning, at 5:00 AM sharp."_

So much for sleeping in.

 **...**

Kakashi was once again standing in front of the Memorial Stone.

"So…I'm really a jounin sensei. Yeah, Obito, laugh it up. I suppose it could be worse. I could be dealing with three students instead of just one. Did you know that he got through the stupid test because he spied on older students? The only reason he has any chakra control is because he's so…little."

Kakashi sighed.

 _Was I really that tiny once?_

Shikamaru looked so…fragile.

It kinda scared him.

And Shikaku…

 _"I'm entrusting you with my child, Kakashi."_

The weight of his responsibility had settled on him then, and Kakashi had felt…

 _…protective?_

It was somewhat a foreign feeling. The only time he had ever felt really protective, was of his nin-dogs, and only when they were puppies. They had a mutual agreement to never mention those younger days, and Kakashi was perfectly fine with that.

And wasn't it a little weird to compare Shikamaru Nara with a bunch of puppies?

Kakashi sighed.

"I really wish you were here, Sensei. You would know what to do so much better than me."

 **...**

Shikamaru had almost slept in. Really. He had almost gotten away with it. But then his mother showed up…with a glass of ice-cold water.

It was a really rude awakening.

"You're a shinobi now, so start acting like it!" she had stated, literally dragging him out of his bed. And then she had teared up, and had refused to stop hugging him.

"Mom," he had finally been able to breath out. "I'm going to be late."

So, he was actually on time.

Kakashi was not.

Remembering Iruka's statement that had made him guess that Kakashi was usually tardy, Shikamaru groaned.

 **...**

When Kakashi finally showed up three hours later, he was slightly amused to find his new cute student, curled up in a ball, sound asleep on the bridge.

Smirking, Kakashi reached out with his foot and shoved Shikamaru off the bridge and into the water.

 **...**

Shikamaru woke up instantly, the shock of the cold water making him freeze for a moment. Instinctively, he inhaled with a gasp, and then convulsed as he suddenly realized he was completely surrounded by water and had just inhaled a bunch of it. His lungs burned, and he tried to cough, but it made it that much worse. There were stars flashing behind his tightly closed eyelids, and he _knew_ he should be swimming, but he couldn't remember which way was up, _and why was he in the water in the first place?_ and _oh kami,_ he was going to _die-_

There was suddenly a hand grabbing his shirt, and Shikamaru didn't care who it was, he just reached out and latched onto it, and then there was _air_ and he couldn't stop coughing, and his lungs hurt, and he was crying too.

 _Shinobi shoulen't cry,_ he thought, but _dammit_ , it _hurt_ , and he was still _seven_ , and technically a kid, so he was allowed to cry, and he _couldn't stop crying._

 ** _..._**

After shoving Shikamaru into the water, he had expected the seven-year old to surface, spluttering insults at him, and then Kakashi would smile and pull him out, and they would start their day of training and D ranked missions.

But when Shikamaru didn't surface, and there were suddenly air bubbles floating to the surface of the water, Kakashi had frozen.

 _Kami,_ he hadn't been a teacher for a full day, and he had already killed his student. Shikaku was going to _kill him._

Kakashi didn't think as he jumped over the railing to the bridge, staying on the surface of the water with chakra, but reaching under to grab the kid. He was somewhat mollified when Shikamaru showed he was still alive by reaching up and grabbing Kakashi's hand with his two small ones, and then Kakashi had Shikamaru in his arms and he was making his way to shore.

Shikamaru was coughing and spluttering, and god forbid, he was actually sobbing.

 _What the hell was Kakashi supposed to do with a sobbing seven year old?_

Kakashi tried to put Shikamaru down, but the boy was stubbornly holding onto his flak jacket and wouldn't let go. The sobs were only getting worse, and it was making the choking and coughing sound so much worse.

 _It's your own fault, idiot. You shoved a sleeping seven year old into the water. It was different when he was wide-awake yesterday, and he was prepared for it._

Kakashi really didn't need Obito's condescending voice in his head right now.

"Hey, Shikamaru. It's okay. I'm sorry. That was so _stupid_ of me. Don't tell your dad, please?"

Oh yeah, Shikaku was _really_ going to kill him.

Shikamaru's sobbing was turning into hiccups, and he was now leaning his head onto Kakashi's chest. His small hands were still grasping at Kakashi's vest, showing no signs of letting up. Kakashi awkwardly pulled the boy closer and patted his back.

They sat like that for a while, Kakashi silently berating himself for being an idiot and realizing that it was going to totally be in Shikaku's rights if he wanted to kill Kakashi. Because Shikamaru was still a child. And Kakashi had almost drowned him.

"You're the most awful sensei ever."

Kakashi jumped at the wavering voice, and he looked down. Shikamaru still had noticeable tear tracks on his face, and he literally looked like a drowned puppy.

 _He really needed to stop comparing Shikamaru to his dogs._

His dogs! That was it! What better thing to comfort a traumatized child than a bunch of dogs?

Finally getting Shikamaru to let go of his flak jacket, Kakashi nicked his finger on a kunai and quickly did the hand signs for the summoning. Shikamaru was watching him warily, and his eyes grew huge as a pile of nin-dogs showed up.

"What is it now, pup?"

The look on Shikamaru's face was priceless.

"Um, I have a mission for you," he stated.

Pakkun gave him the "uh huh," look.

"You see, I may have accidently almost drowned my new student," Shikamaru gave a half scoff, half cough at this, "and I was thinking that maybe you guys could cheer him up, because if he goes home crying to his dad, I am _so_ dead."

Pakkun just stared at him.

"Sometimes I really wonder how I got you as my summoner."

Pakkun turned around and studied Shikamaru. The boy was shivering from the water, and his eyes were rimmed red from crying. The occasional cough shook his tiny frame, and Kakashi was once again reminded that Shikamaru was tiny, and fragile, and he was such an _idiot-_

"You're an idiot," Pakkun said. And then he trotted forward, and climbed into Shikamaru's lap. Shikamaru looked bemused, unsure of what to do.

"You can pet me, you know."

Shikamaru looked like he wasn't sure to laugh at the situation or cry some more.

"Shikamaru," Kakashi started.

The boy, who had just reached up to tentatively pet Pakkun's head, looked up at Kakashi.

"I really am sorry for doing that. I wasn't thinking, and I'm sorry."

"You really are an awful sensei," the dark haired boy replied, but Kakashi felt a little better as the rest of his dogs started to approach Shikamaru. Shikamaru looked worried at first, but then he smiled a little when Bull leaned forward and licked the side of his face.

"Yuck, that's gross," he whined, but he now had a full on grin.

"Are you…going to tell your dad?"

Shikamaru paused in his petting, and glared at Kakashi.

"I won't tell, on a few conditions."

Kakashi was worried about that.

"Don't you ever say you're going to be here at a certain time, and then show up late again. I don't care if you do it to other people, but never again me. I'll just stay home if that is the case, and you'll have to come get me."

Okay, Kakashi could do that.

"Then, you are never allowed to toss me into the water again, unless we're sparring for real."

Fair enough.

"And instead of calling you Kakashi-sensei, I'm going to call you Kashi-sensei, because it's easier. And you have to let me see your face."

By the time Shikamaru was finished, Kakashi's mouth was wide open, and Pakkun was snickering.

"If you don't adhere to those conditions, then I'll tell dad that you almost drowned me."

Pakkun full out laughed.

Kakashi just stared in disbelief.

Show Shikamaru his face? But only Minato and Kushina, and Jaraiya and his father had ever seen it.

But then again…

 _Dead by Shikaku, or show my face?_

He figured that showing Shikamaru his face was the lesser of two evils.

Sighing, Kakashi pulled his mask down.

"There, happy?"

Shikamaru looked surprised, as if he didn't actually think that Kakashi would do it. And then he looked confused.

"Why do you wear it? You look normal enough to me…"

Kakashi shrugged, and tugged the mask back up. "Maybe I'll tell you someday."

Shikamaru nodded, and went back to petting Pakkun.

"Okay, Kashi-sensei."

Kakashi wasn't sure what to think of the now shortened version of his name. Minato had called him Kashi-chan before, which had mightily annoyed him with he was younger, but coming from Shikamaru, "Kashi-sensei", it was actually really endearing.

 _Oh, Kami. I knew being a teacher was a really bad idea._

Shikamaru sneezed, and Kakashi realized that if his student didn't get dried off soon, he'd end up catching cold, and then it would only be a matter of Shikaku doing some investigating to find out what happened.

"Right, so, you want some hot chocolate?"

 **So, the second part of this chapter was supposed to be funny, with Shikamaru in the water yelling at Kakashi for dumping him in there again, but my muse ran away with a more angsty version of the event.**

 **Also, how did you like the nin dogs? I didn't have a lot of them in here, but I plan on using them a lot more later. And whereas in canon, Shikamaru has an interesting relationship with Pakkun, I wanted to make this one nicer. :-)**

 **Please Review!**


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